UK Jewish population on the increase

Jewish population on the increase
BBC
21/5/08

The UK's Jewish population is growing for the first time since World War II, research suggests. The rise appears to be due to a growth in the size of ultra-orthodox Jewish families, according to researchers at the University of Manchester. The population fell to a historic low of 275,000 in 2005, but that figure has since increased to 280,000 in 2008. The figures were based on UK census data and the monitoring of Jewish births by academics.

The Jewish population of the UK decreased by 40% from just after World War II to a low point in 2005 as the birth-rate among secular Jews declined and more married outside the community. Britain has the fifth largest Jewish population in the world.

...

At the start of World War I there were half a million Jews in Britain, but in a smaller overall population. Dr Wise calculates the proportion of Jews in the UK now is only about a quarter of its peak.

Dr Wise - who says his research is based on regular monitoring of Jewish births - attributes the decline in the Jewish population to the fact that about half of more secular Jews marry outside the community, and many of them do not bring their children up as Jewish. He says secular Jewish women - coming from a relatively well-educated and prosperous section of society - have had on average only 1.65 children. The UK average is 1.8.

However, the very high birth-rate of the minority of strictly orthodox - also referred to as ultra-orthodox - Jewish families is having an increasing impact on the population as a whole. They marry young - often in their early twenties or even late teens - and have an average of almost seven children.

...

[Wise] calculates that at current trends strictly orthodox Jews will outnumber their more secular counterparts by the middle of the century.